All Amor inherits from Joost’s estate is a TV

His belongings were bequeathed to his two children - Jordan, 13 and Kylie, 11.

Joost van der Westhuizen and Amor Vittone. File picture: Southern Sun

Pretoria – Springbok legend Joost van der Westhuizen’s widow Amor Vittone will only inherit a television set from his estate.

This is after the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on Monday ruled that the will Joost had drawn up on September 2, 2015, but failed to sign himself, was his last and true testament.

Amor was of the opinion that despite his motor neuron disease in 2015, Joost was still able to sign a document or at least to make a mark on it.

She vigorously opposed an application by Joost’s brother Peter van der Westhuizen and lawyer Ferdinand Hartzenberg, who turned to court to have the will Joost had drawn up in 2015, to be declared his last wish.

The problem with this will was that it was not signed by Joost at the time, but by Hartzenberg instead, who acted as Commissioner of Oath. The Master of the High Court rejected this will and said it was not legal as it could not have been signed by Hartzenberg.

The will had been a bone of contention since Joost’s death.

Judge Hans Fabricius rejected Amor’s blanket denials that Joost was mentally and physically not able to give instructions for the latest will. He said her defence (simple denials that he was up to giving instructions) was “scandalous, to say the last.”

The judge said it was desirable that he said as little as possible about her answers in her affidavit because of “issues of respect and compassion.”

The judge said one would have expected that Amor, who was married to him and had children with him, would have given reasons as to why she claimed he was not able to give instructions for the drafting of his new will. Instead, he said, she simply said he was not up to it, without giving any reasons.

Joost’s brother Pieter van der Westhuizen told IOL that the family did not win, but that it was all about Joost two children. “It is their money, not our money. We do not benefit from the will,” he said.

His elderly father Gustav van der Westhuizen, who was also at court, said he was pleased with the outcome of the case.

The court did order Amor to foot the legal bill, but not on a punitive scale. Judge Fabricius was told that the family did not want to pursue a punitive cost order against her.

His belongings were bequeathed to his two children – Jordan, 13 and Kylie, 11 and Joost’s half interest of the Dainfern home in which Amor and the children live, will go into Trust with the J9 Foundation. The children will later also inherit this. The other half of the property is registered in Amor’s name.